Fool Me Once
by WertdoAlex
Summary: She was trained for everything, but not this. Anything, but this. ONE-SHOT


"I've wanted to say this for so long, but there was no opportunity." He pleaded to her, trying to make her understand how he felt, love enveloping his words.

"It's too late; you've had your chance many a time. I don't want to do this anymore, especially not with you." She stared back deep into his eyes, lacking emotion and feelings. Her face was blank and cold, indicating that she wanted to stop pretending.

"Just let me say it. Let me say it once." He murmured, stepping closer to her, only to find she had taken a step back, due to her repulsion and disgust of him. She shook her head, and sighed, wiping a tear from her already red and puffy eyes. It was too much for her to handle. She wasn't trained for anything like this.

"Stop, just stop. Nothing you can say will change the way I feel." Her hands covered her face, despite everything; she didn't want him to see her like this, with her guard down. He took her hands away, covering them with his own, stroking them, and soothing her.

"You mean too much to me, and I can't let you go. I love you. I love you, and I always have. I should have told you from the very beginning, when I first met you. Instantly I knew you were the one for me, but our separate lives got in the way. But, I can't let it go unsaid. I love you, and I'm asking to be with you. Nothing can keep us apart if we don't want it to; we've proven that many a time. Why are you allowing this to be an exception?"

There was silence, from both of them, until the unmistakeable sound of crying appeared. She took her hands away from his touch, now so cold to her, and covered her head. He knelt down beside her and brushed a strand of hair away from her eyes, her beautiful eyes. She began to whisper, her voice wobbly and fragile, so unlike her usual self.

"You used me. You told me you loved me before, and what did it do? It broke me. It tore me up, and no one has been able to put those pieces back together. We tried, and it didn't work, isn't that enough for you?" She cried, looking once again into his eyes, now with pity.

"Let it go." She quietly said, and she got up from where she had been kneeling to walk over to the mirror, checking her face. No one else could see her cry. She was supposed to be tough, strong, a person who never broke down. She was certainly not going to break her own rules. At the end of the day, whatever the outcome was, she would never become a hypocrite. She had been taught that much.

The man was still silent, which gave her even more confidence to say what she'd wanted to say for so long. She took her opportunity.

"I despise you. I never want to see you again. You made my life a misery. Yes, you told me you loved me, but why would that even make a difference? I was an idiot for thinking you could change, but then again, you had years to deceive me, didn't you?!" She was shouting now, and the man began to wince at her words, indicating that they were in fact true. He made no attempt to deny them, and just slumped to the ground, feeling pity for himself. He tried to cut in, to explain some more, but she was having none of it. This was her moment, her chance to speak, her chance to outline everything that had gone wrong, and how it all came back to one person, the only person who was to blame for everything. Him.

"Shut up! Let me speak for once! You told me you loved me, after 15 years. _That _is the reason I despise you, you make my life miserable, me waiting for you to finally reveal how you felt about me. _Not only _did your declaration of love make me change my mind about the wonderful relationship I was already in, it made me leave everything I had created for myself. My homes, my friends, were all left behind, because I up and left for you."

She sniggered, laughing and sobbing simultaneously, hatred and hurt filling her eyes.

"And where did I find you? I should have known. In your apartment, yes, but you were in your bed fooling around with some woman. Not a surprise, she was blonde. You were always a sucker for blondes."

She got up, and wiped her eyes, checking her face in the mirror once again. Everything had to be intact, and luckily it was.

She bent down to him, and stared into his eyes, deeply, forgetting everything she had just mentioned. He tilted his head towards hers, and touched her face, softly, then running his hands through her hair. She smiled, parted her lips and kissed him, passionately, wildly, as if she was madly in love.

His lips unlocked from hers, and they connected, no words, only using their deep gazes.

"I love you." The man whispered, and for a minute it seemed she would say it back. She smiled gently, and drew closer to his face for a second time. He closed his eyes, and waited for the unfamiliar pressure of her lips to join his. She could make everything okay.

She slapped him hard on the face, the crack nearly making his skin quiver, the pain was unbearable. She kicked him in the place that she knew would hurt the most, and got the reaction she was looking for. He doubled over, and looked up at her, eyes brimming with unanswered questions. Why had she decided to hurt him, after what they just shared?

She answered his silent question with words, which were once again filled with distrust and disgust for the man who was kneeling in front of her. He flinched at the sound of them.

"If I've remembered one saying, from working here with you Tony, it's this. Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice? Well, that isn't ever going to happen."


End file.
